Acanthocobitis pavonaceus

Scientific – Acanthocobitis pavonaceus (Meclelland, 1839)

Common Name- Bihar loach, Horizontal stripe loach

Local Name – Nakhi, Baghi

Classification

Class	Osteichthyes
Sub-Class	Actinopterygii
Order	Cypriniforrnes
Family	Balitoridae
Sub-family	Nomacheilinae
Genus	Acanthocobitis
Species	pavonaceus

 

Habits and habitat

They are found in rivers Ganga, Gandak, Sone and their canals. It prefers in sandy, gravel bottom of tanks. It occurs in sub-mountain area with the slow flowing water system, also found in chaurs, beels, floodplain muddy area with plants. The species is reported from Rohtas, Bhojpur, Gaya, Aurangabad, Champaran, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and other districts of Bihar. This is an endemic variety of Bihar, usualy found in the high altitude area.

 

Salient features

Body is elongated cylindrical. It has olive to light yellowish colour of ground, with several brown-black strips runs parallel to lateral line along with head to tip of caudal peduncle. One parellel deep strip runs from middle of flank to both side, other above and below to this. There are three pairs of barbels, two pair on the upper and one pair is on the lower jaw. It is one of the best scavengers. Another set of bushy barbels adorns the mouth on obstinate little moustache; they are present on the movable spine below the eye.

Caudal fin has several black dots in lines and dorsal fin have black dots in rays. It is very active at night and moves in groups, mostly found attached to the substratum and has slow but curly movement. It feeds on algae, plankton, plant matter, larvae, insects and benthos. Also found at bottom of muddy channels with full of plants. It breeds in late summer. It attains a length of 5-7cm.

 

Source-

• Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore